Begin Anew: Pesach

 

Pesach (Passover) begins next Friday night and the kabbalists teach that it presents us with an opportunity that we only get one day a year. The opportunity, for each of us, is to disconnect completely from negativity. Negativity is all things that do not elevate us, that create separation between ourselves and other people, and that create separation between ourselves our connection to the Creator. Pesach is the window in time when, through our consciousness, we can achieve a total unification with the Light of the Creator, total separation from darkness, chaos, and pain.

 

Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

 

It is. The way to create the connection with Pesach and total unity with the Creator is through the consciousness of joyfulness. There are physical tools associated with Pesach, such as Matzah (unleavened bread), wine and the seder. These tools are part of a code that we use to remove ourselves from negativity. Kabbalists explain that the Light is so unnaturally abundant on the first day of Pesach that any negativity that we have attached ourselves to is dissolved. The consequences of jealousy, negative words and actions from the past year have the chance to be wiped away.

 

There are the skeptical voices in our minds that challenge whether such a connection could be made, about whether we could really be free of our past negativity through happiness and the tools of Pesach. One of my favorite quotes from the Rav is, [blockquote]If you think what you are doing is not important, then it is not important.[/blockquote]

 

Pesach lasts for seven days, it is on the 7^th day of Pesach that the Israelites first awakened a miracle with their own Light. Rav Brandwein, in a letter to Rav Berg, explained that the Light of the Creator is like our shadow. As we behave, so does our shadow. So when the Israelites came to the sea with the Egyptians chasing them, ready to kill all of them and they were trapped by the sea, they called out to the Creator for his assistance. The Creator assured them that they had the ability to create the miracle for themselves.

 

We can’t wait for the Creator to change our nature, that is up to us. We have to change, and like our shadow, the Creator will behave in the same way that we do. The greatest change that we are meant to make is to give up our desire to receive for the self alone. That is the ultimate change of nature.

 

To begin to create great miracles in our own right we must change our nature, resist our desire to receive for the self alone and then we will earn the power and ability to change the nature of our world. That’s the possibility inherent in this window of time known as Pesach.

 

THOUGHT INTO ACTION

What negativity have you connected to in this past year? When were you jealous, angry or petty? Prepare to let that all of that negativity go and begin anew.